Nile Cruise: What's Included and What Costs Extra
What a Luxor–Aswan Nile cruise usually includes, what you pay for separately, and what a typical day on board looks like.
A Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan usually includes your cabin, all meals on board, sightseeing with an Egyptologist guide, entrance fees to the sites in the programme and transfers. Drinks, tips, optional trips such as Abu Simbel or the Luxor balloon, flights or trains to Luxor and Aswan, and your Egypt visa are extra.
Usually included
A cabin with a Nile view and private bathroom, full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner), the visits listed in the programme with a private Egyptologist guide, the entrance tickets for those sites, transfers between your hotel, airport or station and the ship, and service charges and taxes.
On a dahabiya, soft drinks, tea and coffee are usually included as well.
What you pay separately
Drinks on a cruise ship, tips for the crew and guide, and optional extras: the trip to Abu Simbel from Aswan, the sunrise balloon over Luxor, extra tickets inside some sites such as Tutankhamun's tomb, and sound and light shows. Flights or trains to Luxor and Aswan and your Egypt visa are not part of the cruise.
A typical day on board
Visits start early, often right after breakfast, to avoid the heat. The ship usually sails in the middle of the day, while you have lunch and relax on the sun deck, and there may be a second visit in the late afternoon. Evenings are for dinner on board, sometimes with music or a themed night.
You normally board around midday on the first day and leave after breakfast on the last.
Check before you book
Programmes differ between ships, so check whether a cruise includes a guide or only the boat, and which sites are in the price. On our cruises the guide, entrance fees and transfers are always included, and we tell you every extra before you book.
